The moonlight filtered through the canopy like silver rain, casting shifting patterns across the forest floor. Akari moved in silence, his breath steady but his thoughts loud.
Yura emerged again, this time from the higher branches. Her kunai gleamed with a coating he recognized—paralytic toxin. She wasn't playing games.
"I warned you," she said, descending in a blur.
Akari met her mid-air, blades clashing in a shower of sparks. "You used to aim for the legs," he muttered through grit teeth. "Have you gotten lazy, or cruel?"
Yura's eyes narrowed. "You used to dodge better."
They landed—Akari slid back across the ground while Yura barely wavered. Her stance had changed since the last time they fought. Tighter. Sharper.
"You were never just a mission to me," she said suddenly.
That caught him off guard.
"But if I have to kill you to stop what's coming..." her voice faltered, "...I will."
Akari took a step forward. "Then kill the version of me you knew. But don't pretend you know who I am now."
---
A sudden ripple of chakra pulsed outward—Akari's hand glowed faintly, violet streaks tracing along his arm. The seal was weakening.
Yura saw it too. "You're losing control."
"I'm taking control."
He moved again—this time faster. Their blades met in a furious exchange, kunai and chakra colliding in bursts of heat. For a moment, it was hard to tell if they were fighting to kill or to be heard.
She slashed low—he leapt, countered with a spinning kick that grazed her ribs. She staggered.
He hesitated.
"Still holding back?" she hissed.
"No," Akari said quietly. "Just hoping you'd remember."
"Remember what?"
"That I never chose this," he said. "But I am choosing what I become."
---
Raien arrived just in time to see Yura retreat into the trees, blood on her arm and hesitation in her eyes.
"She's not done," he muttered.
"No," Akari replied, steadying his breath. "But neither are we."
Raien looked at the seal still glowing faintly on Akari's skin. "You need to get that stabilized."
"I will," Akari said. "But first… we need answers. Real ones. From Sayaka."
"And if she's still lying?"
Akari's gaze darkened. "Then she'll see what this power was truly meant for."